How Did You Get It So Quiet In There?

[ 1 Minute Read ]

The latest episode I listened to featured the memoirist and poet, Mary Karr. Karr is a prolific writer and most well-known for her memoirs, Lit and The Liar's Club.

One of the topics they touched upon during the episode was mindfulness. Tippett recalled an interview Larry King gave when he still hosted Larry King Live. King was interviewing a wise man - in this case a Swami.

Toward the end of the interview, King leaned forward, in his suspender-wielding, elbows-crossed kind of way and asked the Swami:

"How did you get it so quiet in there?"

"In there", meaning the Swami's mind.

The Swami replied:

"It is quiet in there. We make it noisy."

Those nine words have been stuck in my mind ever since I heard them.

For those who feel like their mind is a frenetic monkey or a torture device, myself included at times, this wisdom struck me in the deepest of ways. Even more powerful is that we can determine whether all of that chatter is there or not.

When I find myself ruminating, obsessing, and re-hashing events that have or haven't happened, those nine words will be there waiting.

We can be at rest in our mind. We can relax. We don't have to make it noisy.

May it be so.

Click below to hear the full episode with Mary Karr, titled "Astonished by the Human Comedy".